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‘Killfie’ Study: Selfie Deaths Are On The Rise

PITTSBURGH (CBS) – When you snap a selfie, are you thinking about safety?

Maybe you should. A new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and other institutions found that since March 2014, 127 people have died and many more have been hurt while trying to get the perfect selfie.

The study, titled “Me, Myself and My Killfie: Characterizing and Preventing Selfie Deaths,” determined there were 15 selfie-related deaths in 2014, 39 in 2015 and 73 through Sept. 2016.

By far, the most dangerous place for selfie-taking is India, according to the study. There have been 76 selfie-related deaths there, researchers found, and Mumbai police have had to classify certain areas as “no-selfie zones.”

How does a selfie turn deadly? Most of the time, it happens when people fall off a building or mountain while trying to take a selfie. Water-related causes are also common, as are fatal encounters on train tracks.

In the United States, the study found three deaths occurred when people tried to take a selfie with a weapon.

And while women take more selfies than men, males account for about three-quarters of all selfie-related deaths and are prone to taking riskier selfies, the study concluded.

Researchers looked at more than 3,000 selfies on Twitter to see if they could classify a particular selfie as dangerous or not, with an eventual goal of helping everyone take safer selfies.

“We believe that the study can inspire and provide footprints for technologies which can stop users from clicking dangerous selfies,” the researchers stated.